MRT-7 To Be Partially Operational by 2021: DOTr

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Wednesday announced the Metro Rail Transit-7 (MRT-7) will be partially operational by 2021 following its concessionaire’s report of the project being 44.98 percent complete.

During a tour of the construction of an MRT-7 station at the Quezon City Memorial Circle, San Miguel Corporation MRT-7 Inc. (SMC MRT-7) Infrastructure Technical head Norberto Conti said the civil works, such as the construction of stations, guideway works, the foundation works, of the project is 37.49 percent complete.

Meanwhile, the project’s rolling stock and train cars and rails, among others, is 53.09 percent complete, Conti said.

Conti noted that all 108 cars, equivalent to 36 trainsets of the project, are 100 percent completed by its South Korean contractor.

DOTr Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan said by end of 2021, the first station of the MRT-7, North Avenue station, up to the Sacred Heart station in Caloocan City will be partially operational.

He added the project will be fully operational from North Avenue station up to San Jose del Monte station in Bulacan by 2022.

Once finished, Conti said the 23-kilometer rail transit system will cut travel time from North Avenue to San Jose del Monte from four hours to only 34 minutes and has the capacity to serve 500,000 daily passengers.

In his welcome remarks, Batan lauded the SMC MRT-7 as the project’s concessionaire for their “work on all workable areas” approach that means construction of the project continues even through setbacks such as right-of-way issues.

“Ginagamit po talaga natin example itong proyektong ito, itong MRT-7, sa iba po naming contractors. Na bakit hindi niyo gayahin yung approach na ginagawa sa MRT-7? (We use this project as an example, the MRT-7, in our other contractors. We ask why don’t they copy the concessionaire’s approach in MRT-7?),” Batan said.

He compared this to the traditional approach of other concessionaires wherein they wait until all deliverables of the government are done before beginning the construction.

“Meron kaming deliverables, meron deliverables yung concessionaire, yung contractor namin. Hintayan po hanggang matapos lahat ng deliverables. Habang naghihintayan, hindi po umuusad yung proyekto (We have deliverables, the concessionaire has deliverables. It becomes a waiting game until all deliverables are done),” Batan said.

The DOTr also toured the members of the media at the Quezon City Memorial Circle station, Quezon City common station and the LRT-2 Emerald station on Marcos Highway in Cainta, Rizal.

Batan said the tour was the second of media tours arranged by the DOTr with the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on “Build, Build, Build” projects to mark the second half of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.

“Ito po ang unang buwan ng pangalawang yugto, second half ng termino ng ating pangulo. At mahalaga po na itong puntong ito ay bisitahin kung nasaan na ba tayo, hindi lang po para kilalanin yung mga nagawa na, ngunit para maging sila driver po satin na ipagpatuloy yung progress ng proyekto natin (This is the first month of the second half of our president’s term. It is important at this point in time that we visit where we are, not only to know what’s finished but to have our accomplishments drive us to continue our projects),” Batan said. (PNA)